September 1, 1897: Boston Opens America's 1st Subway

September 1, 1897: The Tremont Street Subway opens in Boston. It is the 1st subway system in America.

This original line consisted of a main line under Tremont Street that terminated at Park Street in downtown Boston, and two forks to the south. One of these was the Pheasant Street Incline, heading to Pheasant Street in the South End, and remained in operation until 1961.

The other remains in operation today, veering westward along Boylston Street, and eventually extended to lines labeled B, C, D and E, serving as the Green Line when the system was rebranded from the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) to the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA, or just "T") in 1964.

In the opposite direction, the line headed for Scollay Square, North Station, Science Park, and over the Charles River into Cambridge, at Lechmere. This line is currently being extended to Medford and Tufts University, and the MBTA is hoping to open it next May.

There are 2 well-known songs about the Boston subway system, though each mentions a station whose name has since been changed. In 1948, a song was written protesting the exit fare then considered necessary to raise the overall fare from 10 to 15 cents, titled "M.T.A.," sometimes mistitled "Charlie on the M.T.A." In the 4th of the 5 verses:

Charlie's wife goes down

to the Scollay Square station

every day at a quarter past two

and through the open window

she hands Charlie a sandwich

as the train comes rumbling through!

My mother always wondered why Mrs. Charlie didn't just include the extra nickel in the brown bag with the sandwich. It was a protest: Charlie thought no one should have to pay the extra nickel, and his wife was down with it.

In 1944, Tom Lehrer, then a student at Harvard University, not yet the great musical satirist of the 1950s and '60s, wrote a song about commuting from the Harvard campus to downtown, to the tune of "M-O-T-H-E-R, A Word That Means the World to Me":

H is for my alma mater, Harvard.
C is Central, next stop on the line.
K is for the cozy Kendall station.
C is Charles that overlooks the brine.
P is Park Str- Pahk Street, busy Boston center.
W is Washington, you see.

Put them all together, they spell: "HCKC-PW!"
Which is just about what Boston means to me!

"HCKC-PW" was supposed to sound like spitting. This line became the MBTA Red Line. Scollay Square was renamed Government Center in 1963. In 1987, Washington station was renamed Downtown Crossing.

Chicago's elevated line, or "L," actually predates the Boston subway by 5 years, but the city didn't get its 1st underground subway line until the State Street line opened on October 17, 1943.

For each city in Major League Baseball with a subway system, here are the opening dates:

1. June 6, 1892, Chicago.

2. September 1, 1897, Boston.

3. October 27, 1904, New York.

4. March 4, 1907, Philadelphia.

5. December 17, 1913, Cleveland.

6. March 30, 1954, Toronto.

--. October 14, 1966, Montreal.

7. September 11, 1972, San Francisco.

8. March 27, 1976, Washington.

9. June 30, 1979, Atlanta.

10. July 26, 1981, San Diego.

11. November 21, 1983, Baltimore.

12. April 15, 1984, Pittsburgh.

13. May 20, 1984, Miami.

14. July 31, 1987, Detroit.

15. July 14, 1990, Los Angeles.

16. July 31, 1993, St. Louis.

17. June 14, 1996, Dallas.

18. January 1, 2004, Houston.

19. June 26, 2004, Minneapolis.

20. December 27, 2008, Phoenix.

21. July 18, 2009, Seattle.

22. April 22, 2016, Denver.

23. May 6, 2016, Kansas City.

24. September 9, 2016, Cincinnati.

25. November 2, 2018, Milwaukee.

26. Never, Tampa Bay. Neither Tampa nor St. Petersburg has any.

San Francisco had cable cars going back to 1878, and streetcars in 1948, before the opening of BART in 1972. In the cases of San Diego, St. Louis, Dallas, Houston, Minneapolis, Phoenix, Seattle, Kansas City, Cincinnati and Milwaukee, the service in question is street-level light rail. And Miami's, Detroit's and Seattle's are above-ground monorails. Those cities have never had subway systems. Cincinnati started to build one, but abandoned the project in 1928.

*

September 1, 1897 was a Wednesday. Basketball was a new invention. Professional hockey did not exist. Professional football barely did. But all 12 teams in baseball's National League were in action:

* The Boston Beaneaters beat the Chicago Colts, 7-4 at the South End Grounds in Boston. The Beaneaters, the forerunners of the Braves, were in a torrid struggle for the Pennant with the Baltimore Orioles. In fact, from 1891 to 1898, one or the other won the Pennant every year. The former Chicago White Stockings were then known as the Colts because they had so many young players. They became the Cubs in 1903.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the St. Louis Browns, 11-5 at Oriole Park in Baltimore. These Orioles went out of business after the 1899 season. These Browns became the Cardinals soon thereafter. A series of teams in Baltimore took on the Orioles name, and in 1902, an American League team took on the St. Louis Browns name. In 1954, this team moved, becoming the Baltimore Orioles.

* The New York Giants beat the Cincinnati Reds, 8-7 at the Polo Grounds.

* The Brooklyn Bridegrooms beat the Cleveland Spiders, 5-1 at Eastern Park in Brooklyn. They were called the Bridegrooms because, a few years earlier, several of their players got married in the off-season. By 1911, they were the Dodgers. The Spiders folded after the 1899 season.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Louisville Colonels, 7-6 at Huntingdon Avenue Grounds (later renamed Baker Bowl) in Philadelphia. The Colonels folded after the 1899 season.

* And the Washington Senators beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 5-1 at Boundary Park in Washington. These Senators folded after the 1899 season.

September 1, 1894: The Great Hinckley Fire

September 1, 1894: The Great Hinckley Fire breaks out. Over the next 5 days, it burns over 250,000 acres of forest in eastern Minnesota, around the town of Hinckley. The official death toll was 418, and the actual toll was probably a bit higher.

It was the biggest wildfire in America since the one centered on Peshtigo, Wisconsin in 1871, the result of a very dry Summer. The Great Chicago Fire was on the same day as Peshtigo's.

The Summer of 1894 was also very dry, and especially hot. The fires' spread apparently was due to the then-common method of lumber harvesting, wherein trees were stripped of their branches in place; these branches littered the ground with flammable debris. Also contributing was a temperature inversion that trapped the gases from the fires. The scattered blazes united into a firestorm. The temperature rose to at least 2,000 °F. Barrels of nails melted into one mass, and in the yards of the Eastern Minnesota Railroad, the wheels of the cars fused with the rails. 

Some residents escaped by climbing into wells, ponds, or the Grindstone River. Others clambered aboard two crowded trains that pulled out of the threatened town minutes ahead of the fire.

*

September 1, 1894 was a Saturday. Baseball was then the only team sport in America that dared to be openly professional, and the 12-team National League was the only major league. These games were played on that day:

* The New York Giants split a doubleheader with the Cincinnati Reds at the Polo Grounds. The Reds won the opener, and the Giants won the nightcap. Each game ended 8-6.

* The Brooklyn Bridegrooms swept a doubleheader from the Louisville Colonels, 6-5 and 20-7 at Eastern Park in Brooklyn. Still using the name they got when several of their players got married before the 1887 season, the Grooms would officially be the Dodgers in 1911.

* The Chicago Colts beat the Boston Beaneaters, 17-7 at the South End Grounds in Boston. The Colts became the Cubs in 1903. The Beaneaters became the Braves in 1912.

* A doubleheader was split at the Philadelphia Base Ball Grounds. The St. Louis Browns beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 8-6 in the 1st game. The Phillies won the 2nd game, 19-9. The Browns became the St. Louis Cardinals in 1900.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Cleveland Spiders, 5-2 at Union Park in Baltimore.

* A doubleheader was split at Exposition Park in Pittsburgh. The Washington Senators won the 1st game, 11-4. The Pittsburgh Pirates was the 2nd game, 15-6.

Baltimore, Washington, Cleveland and Louisville would be contracted out of the NL after the 1899 season.

And in English soccer, Woolwich Arsenal, the team that would one day become Arsenal Football Club, the North London team I would support, lost to Lincoln City, 5-2 at the Manor Ground in Plumstead, now part of South-East London.

September 1, 1872: The Death of Al Thake

September 1, 1872: Al Thake drowns in a fishing accident off Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn. The left fielder for the Brooklyn Atlantics was only 22 years old.

This was the 1st time that an active professional baseball player had died. Ten years earlier, James Creighton, one of the top amateur players, died as a result of an in-game injury in Brooklyn.

Albert Thake was born on September 21, 1849, in Wymondham, Norfolk, England. His family moved to Cleveland, then to Brooklyn, during his youth. Like many boys born in England but raised in America, Albert switched from his original country's game of cricket to his new country's game of baseball. He played for the Star Club of Brooklyn, before moving on to the Atlantics.

He made his National Association debut on June 13, 1872, going 1-for-5 in an Atlantic loss to the Baltimore Canaries. He played in 18 games, batting .295 with 15 RBIs, not bad at all for a player approaching his 23rd birthday, in any era. On August 28, in a loss to the original version of the Philadelphia Athletics, he had a hit, drove in a run, and scored a run. No one knew it at the time, but it would be his last game. 

No photograph of Thake is known to exist: Surviving team photos of the Atlantics do not identify him.

The Atlantic Base Ball Club of Brooklyn was founded in 1855, and were one of the dominant teams of the amateur era. They won championships in 1857, 1859, 1860, 1861, 1864, 1865, 1866 and 1870. On August 30, 1865, President Andrew Johnson made them the 1st sports team invited to visit the White House. In 1870, they became the 1st team to beat the Cincinnati Red Stockings, baseball's 1st openly professional team.

But the coming of league play with the National Association in 1871 doomed them, as the other professional teams caught up with them. They were not invited to join the National League in 1876, and last played in 1882.

September 1, 1872 was a Sunday. Not wanting to deal with "blue laws," the NA did not play any games on this day.

August 31, 2021: The Last American Troops Leave Afghanistan

August 31, 2021: President Joe Biden removes the last American combat troops from Afghanistan, 20 years after they were first sent there.

George W. Bush sent the first American troops there in October 2001, in response to the terrorist attacks of the preceding September 11. They managed to corner Osama bin Laden, but Bush never gave the order to finish the job, and bin Laden escaped.

And that left Americans with a quagmire, in which staying in Afghanistan began to seem like a worse and worse idea over the years, but getting out seemed like an even worse one: We couldn't abandon those people to the Taliban we had previously kicked out of power.

Bush wouldn't take the troops out. Barack Obama wouldn't. Donald Trump decided he didn't want to help brown-skinned Muslims, and put in place a timetable for taking the troops out. Biden decided that following that timetable was the least bad idea.

And then the Republicans, in Congress and in the media, ripped Biden for doing what Trump wanted to do, like the damned hypocrites they usually are. As bad as leaving was, staying was worse: The idea was to protect American soldiers from being killed. The Republicans talked "America First," this was America first.

*

August 31, 2021 was a Tuesday. Football, basketball and hockey were out of season. These Major League Baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Los Angeles Angels, 6-4 at Angel Stadium of Anaheim. Anthony Rizzo and Gary Sánchez hit home runs in support of Jameson Taillon, but it wasn't enough.

* The New York Mets beat the Miami Marlins, 3-1 at Citi Field. The game was called after 7 innings due to rain.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Washington Nationals, 12-6 at Nationals Park in Washington.

* The Tampa Bay Rays beat the Boston Red Sox, 8-5 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 4-2 at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Detroit Tigers, 9-3 at Comerica Park in Detroit.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-2 at Guaranteed Rate Field (now Rate Field) in Chicago.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Minnesota Twins, 3-1 at Target Field in Minneapolis.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Kansas City Royals, 7-2 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Colorado Rockies, 4-3 at Globe Life Field in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.

* The San Diego Padres beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 3-0 at Chase Field in Phoenix. Blake Snell went 7 innings, and 2 relievers completed the 3-hit shutout.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves, 3-2 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the San Francisco Giants, 6-2 at Oracle Park in San Francisco.

* The Seattle Mariners beat the Houston Astros, 4-0 at T-Mobile Park in Seattle.

* And the Cincinnati Reds were supposed to play the St. Louis Cardinals at Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati, but got rained out. It was made up as part of a doubleheader the next day -- which turned out to be another historic day, due to Hurricane Ida.

August 31, 2006: Arsenal Sell Ashley Cole to Chelsea

March 17, 1978: Elvis Costello & the Attractions release their album This Year’s Model. It included a song titled "I Don't Want to Go to Chelsea."

If only Ashley Cole had listened to that song.

August 31, 2006: On the last day of the Summer transfer window, Arsenal F.C. sell left back Ashley Cole to Chelsea F.C., sending him from North London to West London.

They didn't have much choice.

Making his Premier League debut in 2000, Cole established himself as the best English left back of his generation. He helped Arsenal reach the FA Cup Final in 2001, win the Premier League and the FA Cup in 2002 (winning both is called "The Double"), win another Cup in 2003, produce the PL's only unbeaten season in 2004, and win another Cup in 2005. At 24, he had already won 2 League titles and 3 FA Cups, and had played for England in the 2002 World Cup and Euro 2004.

Unfortunately, like so many other great athletes, he began to confuse payment with respect. He wanted £60,000 a week -- with the exchange rate then in effect, this amounted to an annual salary of $3.2 million. Arsenal offered him £55,000 -- about $2.9 million. For a team as big as Arsenal, an additional £5,000 a week shouldn't have been too much to keep the man who, at the time, was the best player at his position in the world, maybe 2nd to Paolo Maldini of A.C. Milan, and only 24 years old.

But Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein, responsible for such negotiations in place of manager Arsène Wenger, wouldn't pay the extra 5 grand. Hearing that over the radio while driving on London's beltway, the M25, Cole, "trembling with anger" as he put it in his autobiography, pulled over, picked up his phone, and called his agent, Jonathan Barnett. He yelled, "They are taking the piss, Jonathan!" The expression -- also "taking the mickey," which comes from Cockney rhyming slang, from "Mickey Bliss" -- is roughly equivalent to the American expressions "busting your chops" or "busting your balls." But Cole considered it a sign of tremendous disrespect.

In January 2005, Cole and Barnett met with Chelsea manager José Mourinho and chief executive Peter Kenyon at the Royal Park Hotel in Lancaster Gate, Central London. Simply having the meeting, without having informed his current club first, was a violation of PL rules. So was negotiating a transfer without the permission of the current club. By offering a contract, of any amount, Chelsea were violating a rule as well. The process is called "tapping-up."

Word got out, and while it didn't seem to affect either team on the field as the 2004-05 season came to a close -- Chelsea won the League, and Arsenal won the Cup -- on June 1, an independent commission charged by the PL with investigating the story issued its findings. Cole was found guilty, and fined £100,000. Chelsea were found guilty, and fined £300,000. Mourinho was found guilty -- a manager should not be present at such a meeting -- and fined £200,000.

Arsenal fans turned on Cole, calling him "Cashley." Rumors abounded, some with more merit to them than others. He was married to Cheryl Tweedy, the lead singer of vocal group Girls Aloud. The joke was that she, white, had to marry him, black, to prove she wasn't a racist; and he had to marry her to prove he wasn't gay. Another rumor spread that he had a gay affair with Jermaine Jenas, a star player with Arsenal's North London arch-rivals, Tottenham Hotspur; and that, for reasons known only to him, he shoved a cell phone up his ass at a party.

The familiar terrace chant, "Ten men went to mow, went to mow a meadow!" became "Ten men went to bed, went to bed with Ashley!" And the rhyming of his name made another song easy: "Oh, Ashley Cole, yer a fuckin' arsehole!"

He played the 2005-06 season with Arsenal, helping them reach the UEFA Champions League Final. On August 31, having been held out of the team's 1st 2 games of the 2006-07 PL season -- a draw against Aston Villa in the 1st competitive match at the new Emirates Stadium, and a loss away to Manchester City -- Arsenal bowed to the inevitable, and made a trade, a rarity in English football: They sent Cole to Chelsea for £5 million and centreback William Gallas.

Cole made a public statement saying he forgave Arsenal team management for their treatment of him. He... forgave them? They didn't do anything wrong. All they did was offer a great player 91 percent of what he thought he was worth.

Gallas did next to nothing for Arsenal, developed a bad attitude, and was gone within 3 years. Cole played 8 seasons for Chelsea, and, while Cheryl divorced him due to his womanizing -- apparently, he is completely straight -- his on-pitch reputation only grew. Between the 2 London clubs, ended up with 5 Premier League titles, a record 7 FA Cup wins, and, with Chelsea, the 2012 Champions League title.

Whether he will ever be forgiven by Arsenal fans remains to be seen, but he set the pattern for future moves for players like Alexander Hleb, Emmanuel Adebayor, Cesc Fàbregas, Samir Nasri, Robin van Persie and Alexis Sánchez.

*

August 31, 2006 was a Thursday. There were 10 games played in Major League Baseball that day:

* The New York Yankees beat the Detroit Tigers, 6-4 at Yankee Stadium. Randy Johnson was the winning pitcher, although he didn't pitch especially well. He may have been the most disappointing pitcher in Yankee history. Alex Rodriguez went 3-for-4 with a home run and 2 RBIs. Derek Jeter went 1-for-2 with 3 walks.

* The New York Mets lost to the Colorado Rockies, 8-4 at Coors Field in Denver. Jeff Francis outpitched Óliver Pérez. David Wright hit a home run for the Mets.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 6-4 at Fenway Park in Boston. David Ortiz did not play.

* The Washington Nationals beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 6-5 at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in Washington. The game went to 10 innings, and both teams scored on mishandled pitched: The Phillies got a run home in the top half, thanks to a passed ball by Nats catcher Brian Schneider; while the Nats tied the game on a Brian Schneider single, and then, with Ryan Church at bat, Aaron Fultz threw a wild pitch, and Marlon Anderson scored the winning run.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the Atlanta Braves, 8-6 at Turner Field (now Center Parc Stadium) in Atlanta. Barry Bonds went 2-for-3 with a walk before leaving the game.

* The Tampa Bay Devil Rays beat the Chicago White Sox, 5-3 at the new Comiskey Park (now Rate Field) in Chicago. Jorge Cantú singled home the winning runs in the top of the 10th inning.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Kansas City Royals, 3-1 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Florida Marlins, 5-2 at the new Busch Stadium in St. Louis. Albert Pujols went 0-for-2 with 2 walks.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Baltimore Orioles, 7-5 at Ameriquest Field (now Choctaw Stadium) in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.

* And the Houston Astros beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 5-3 at Minute Maid Park (now Daikin Park) in Houston.

August 31, 1997: Diana, Princess of Wales, Is Killed

August 31, 1997: I woke up in the middle of the night, turned on the TV, and found out that Princess Diana had been in a car crash in Paris. Her post-Prince Charles boyfriend, Dodi al-Fayed, had already been announced as dead. The newscasters didn't reveal her condition, and may not have known it. But I had a feeling she wouldn't make it. And she didn't. She was 36 years old.

Diana Frances Spencer was born on July 1, 1961, in Sandringham, Norfolk, England, not far from one of the royal family's retreat homes. The Spencers and the Windsors had known each other for decades, and it wasn't a total surprise to "royal-watchers" when, at 19, Diana, then a teacher, was engaged to Charles, Prince of Wales, then 31. They married on July 29, 1981, in a wedding ceremony televised around the world. Prince William was born the following year; Prince Harry, 2 years after that.

But, as she put it, there were 3 people in the marriage. Prince Charles' true love was Lady Camilla Parker-Bowles, who had married someone else in 1973. Charles and Camilla ended up cheating on their respective spouses, with each other. In retaliation, Diana developed her own infidelities, and left Charles in 1992. The divorce was finalized on August 28, 1996.

Diana kept up her charity work, which made her beloved all over the world. She worked with India-based nun and Nobel Peace Prize winner Mother Teresa, who died just a week after Diana did. One of Diana's last public appearances was in Miami, at the funeral for fashion designer Gianni Versace, whose designs she had worn. She was seen comforting singer Elton John, a close friend of Versace's.

But the media wouldn't leave her alone. Near midnight on August 30, 1997, Diana and Dodi left the Hotel Ritz Paris, along with bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones, in a Mercedes-Benz S280 sedan driven by Henri Paul, the hotel's acting security manager. Paparazzi chased them, and Paul tried to lose them in the Pont de l'Alma Tunnel, and crashed at 12:23 AM, August 31, Paris time. (11:23 PM, August 30, London time; 6:23 PM, August 30, U.S. East Coast time.)

An off-duty doctor arrived on the scene, and heard Diana say some fitting last words: "Leave me alone." She was pronounced dead at the hospital at 3:00 AM. (2 AM in London, 9 PM in New York.) Rees-Jones was the only person in the car to survive the crash, though he sustained a head injury.

Paul was later found to have a blood-alcohol content 3.5 times France's legal limit. As a result, the French criminal justice system brought no charges against anyone. But most people, including Diana's brother, Charles, the 9th Earl Spencer, blamed the paparazzi chasing the Mercedes. One witness saw one of the photographers get out of his car, and beat the photographer.

(There are also those who believe the royal family, angry with Diana's public actions, had her killed, but this is ridiculous. Those who know Charles say that, regardless of his anger at Diana, he would never harm the mother of his sons.)

The outpouring of grief in Britain was staggering. Not since John Lennon had there been so much grief over the death of a single person. There were piles of flowers outside Buckingham Palace, the royal residence, and Kensington Palace, where Diana had lived with Charles, and still lived after the divorce.

Queen Elizabeth II, and Princes Charles, William and Harry were at another royal home, Balmoral Castle in Aberdeenshire, Scotland at the time of the crash, and returned to London, over 500 miles away.

On the following Thursday, 2 days before the funeral at Westminster Abbey, Charles, William and Harry walked toward the main gate at Buckingham Palace to greet some mourners. A woman called out, "William, I'm so sorry!" The would-be future King, only 15 years old, walked over, reached through the gate, took her hand in his, managed a smile, and said, "Thank you very much." In my opinion, Charles looked like he'd rather be doing anything else, while William looked more like a King in those 5 seconds than Charles had in his 48 years.

The Queen insisted upon proper royal protocol for the arrangements, which was seen by the public as being too rigid, and insufficiently compassionate. She initially refused to lower the royal standard to half-staff. Diana was the most popular woman in the world, more so than the Queen, and the Queen finally assented to lowering the standard, and giving a televised speech on the Friday, the day before the funeral. It may be the only time in her 70-year reign that she had to publicly eat crow.

The funeral the next day was watched by more people than watched the wedding. Elton sang "Candle In the Wind," which he and Bernie Taupin had written in 1973 in memory of Marilyn Monroe, with new lyrics. It remains the only time he has ever sung the Diana version in public, and the record shot to Number 1 all over the world, becoming the biggest-selling single of all time.

Diana was buried on an island in the middle of a lake called The Oval, on the grounds of Althorp, the Spencer family home in Northamptonshire, England, about 75 miles northwest of London.

*

August 31, 1997 was a Sunday. These Major League Baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees beat the Montreal Expos, 3-2 at Yankee Stadium. Before the game, they honored Don Mattingly with a Plaque in Monument Park, and the retirement of his Number 23. Bernie Williams hit a home run, in support of Andy Pettitte. Derek Jeter went 0-for-3, but did draw a walk.

* The New York Mets beat the Baltimore Orioles, 4-1 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Bernard Gilkey and Butch Huskey hit home runs. Cal Ripken went 0-for-4.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Boston Red Sox, 7-3 at Fenway Park in Boston.

* The Florida Marlins beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 8-3 at the SkyDome (now the Rogers Centre) in Toronto.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Chicago Cubs, 9-5 at Jacobs Field (now Progressive Field) in Cleveland.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 2-1 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Houston Astros, 3-1 at the new Comiskey Park (now Rate Field) in Chicago.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 3-2 at Milwaukee County Stadium.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Cincinnati Reds, 8-6 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat their cross-State rivals, the Kansas City Royals, 5-4 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. Mark McGwire did not play.

* The Colorado Rockies beat the Oakland Athletics, 10-4 at Coors Field in Denver.

* The San Diego Padres beat the Texas Rangers, 5-3 at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego.

* The Seattle Mariners beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 3-1 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Ken Griffey Jr. hit his 44th home run of the season. Dan Wilson singled home the winning run in the top of the 10th inning.

* And the Anaheim Angels beat the San Francisco Giants, 7-4 at Candlestick Park (then named 3Com Park at Candlestick Point) in San Francisco. Barry Bonds went 0-for-3 with a walk.

It was also the opening weekend of a new NFL season:

* The New York Giants beat the Philadelphia Eagles, 31-17 at Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands.

* The New York Jets beat the Seattle Seahawks, 41-3 at the Kingdome in Seattle.

* The New England Patriots beat the San Diego Chargers, 41-7 at Foxboro Stadium in the Boston suburb of Foxborough, Massachusetts.

* The Jacksonville Jaguars beat the Baltimore Ravens, 28-27 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore.

* The Washington Redskins beat the Carolina Panthers, 24-10 in the 1st regular-season game at Jack Kent Cooke Stadium (now Northwest Stadium) in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the San Francisco 49ers, 13-6 at Tampa Stadium.

* The Miami Dolphins beat the Indianapolis Colts, 16-10 at Joe Robbie Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) in Miami Gardens, Florida.

* The St. Louis Rams beat the New Orleans Saints, 38-24 at the Trans World Dome (now The Dome at America's Center) in St. Louis.

* The Minnesota Vikings beat the Buffalo Bills, 34-13 at Rich Stadium (later Ralph Wilson Stadium) in the Buffalo suburb of Orchard Park, New York.

* The Dallas Cowboys beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 37-7 at Three River Stadium in Pittsburgh.

* The Cincinnati Bengals beat the Arizona Cardinals, 24-21 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati.

* The Detroit Lions beat the Atlanta Falcons, 28-17 at the Silverdome in the Detroit suburb of Pontiac, Michigan.

* The Tennessee Oilers beat the Oakland Raiders, 24-21 at the Liberty Bowl (now Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium) in Memphis.

* The Denver Broncos beat the Kansas City Chiefs, 19-3 at Mile High Stadium in Denver.

* And, the next day on ABC Monday Night Football, the Green Bay Packers beat their arch-rivals, the Chicago Bears, 38-24 at Soldier Field in Chicago.

August 31, 1994: The Russians Pull Their Last Troops Out of the Baltics

August 31, 1994: The Russian Federation pulls the last of its armed forces out of the "Baltic States": Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. These countries had gained their independence from the Russian Empire after World War I, but it didn't last.

On September 28, 1939, under threat of invasion, Estonia signed a treaty of "mutual assistance" with the Soviet Union, which allowed the establishment of Soviet military bases there. Latvia, under similar duress, did so on October 5; Lithuania, on October 10.

On June 14, 1940, the day the Nazis marched into Paris, the Soviets issued an ultimatum to Lithuania, demanding the replacement of the Lithuanian government, and that the Red Army be allowed into the country. The government decided that, with Soviet bases already in Lithuania, armed resistance was impossible and accepted the ultimatum.

The Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic was incorporated into the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on August 3, 1940; the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic followed on August 5; the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic, on August 6.

During the Eastern European phase of World War II, which the Soviets named the Great Patriotic War, the Nazis killed 120,000 people in Lithuania, 85,000 in Latvia, 10,000 in Estonia.

With the Eastern European revolutions of 1989 in mind, on March 11, 1990, Lithuania's Supreme Council declared independence from the Soviet Union. Latvia did the same on May 4. The Soviets responded with military force, but Lithuania fought them to a stalemate. Latvia's independence was recognized by the United Nations on August 21, 1991, followed by Lithuania's and Estonia's on September 17.

On December 25, 1991, the Soviet Union was dissolved. On August 31, 1993, the last Russian troops left Lithuania. A year later, the last Russian troops were pulled out of Latvia and Estonia.

*

August 31, 1994 was a Tuesday. Major League Baseball was the only North American sports league that was supposed to be in its regular season, but the Strike of '94 had just begun. So there were no scores on this historic day.

August 31, 1980: The Gdańsk Agreement

August 31, 1980: The Gdańsk Agreement is reached. The accord, signed by government representative Mieczysław Jagielski and strike leader Lech Wałęsa, led to the creation of the trade union Solidarność (meaning "Solidarity"), and was an important milestone in the fall of Communist rule in Poland.

That Summer, faced with a major economic crisis, the Polish government authorized a rise in food prices, which immediately led to a wave of strikes and factory occupations across the country. On August 14, workers at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk went on strike. Thanks to popular support within the country, the workers held out until the government gave in to their demands, and an agreement was formalized on August 31.

In the aftermath of the strike, Solidarity emerged as an independent trade union and rapidly grew, ultimately claiming over 10 million members nationwide and establishing itself as a major force in Polish politics.

If any one man "won the Cold War," Wałęsa could be the one, because he showed the Soviet Union what a real "workers' revolution" looked like. And forced American conservatives to praise the leader of a labor union.

UPDATE: Time magazine named Wałęsa its Man of the Year for 1981, following his arrest and the imposition of martial law in Poland. He was held for 11 months. Following the 2025 death of Apollo 8 astronaut James Lovell, Wałęsa became the earliest living Time Man (or "Person") of the Year.

*

August 31, 1980 was a Sunday. These Major League Baseball games were played: 

* The New York Yankees lost to the Seattle Mariners, 1-0 at Yankee Stadium. Luis Tiant pitched 8 shutout innings, then manager Dick Howser brought Ron Guidry in to pitch the 9th, and an error by Willie Randolph does him in. Floyd Bannister (5 hits over 5 1/3rd innings) and future Yankee Shane Ralwey (1 over 3 2/3rds) combined on a 6-hit shutout. Reggie Jackson went 2-for-4.

* The New York Mets were swept in a doubleheader by the San Francisco Giants, 11-4 and 9-4 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Oakland Athletics, 5-1 at Fenway Park in Boston. Carl Yastrzemski did not play. Rookie Rickey Henderson went 1-for-3 with a walk and an RBI.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the California Angels, 5-0 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Scott McGregor pitched a 3-hit shutout. Eddie Murray went 0-for-3 with a walk. Rod Carew went 0-for-3.

* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Minnesota Twins, 7-1 at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 5-4 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Johnny Bench went 1-for-3 with an RBI. Willie Stargell did not play.

* The Chicago White Sox swept a doubleheader from the Cleveland Indians, 10-8 and 8-7 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Detroit Tigers, 11-6 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Robin Yount went 1-for-4 with a walk. Paul Molitor went 1-for-5 with an RBI.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Houston Astros, 8-7 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. The Astros scored a run in the top of the 9th to take a 7-5 lead, but the Cubs scored 3 in the bottom of the 9th.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 6-2 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. 

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Texas Rangers, 4-3 at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City. George Brett went 0-for-3 with 2 walks.

* The San Diego Padres beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 10-3 at San Diego Stadium (soon to be renamed Jack Murphy Stadium). Mike Schmidt went 1-for-3 with a walk. Pete Rose went 1-for-4. Dave Winfield went 1-for-3 with an RBI.

* And the Los Angeles Dodgers swept a doubleheader from the Montreal Expos, 2-0 and 7-2 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Jerry Reuss pitched a 4-hit shutout in the 1st game.

August 31, 1969: Rocky Marciano's Plane Crash

August 31, 1969: Rocky Marciano and 2 others are killed when their Cessna 172, flying from Midway Airport in Chicago to Des Moines, crashes near Newton, Iowa, 30 miles from their destination. Marciano was a day short of his 46th birthday.

He was born on September 1, 1923, as Rocco Francis Marchegiano, outside Boston in Brockton, Massachusetts. "The Brockton Blockbuster" first fought for the Heavyweight Championship of the World in 1952, against Jersey Joe Walcott, and got knocked down in the 1st round. He got up, and knocked Walcott out in the 13th round. In the rematch, he knocked Walcott out in the 1st.

Like Jack Dempsey, he was a nice guy out of the ring, and hell in it. Like his idol, Joe Louis, he won a lot of fights where he seemed to be losing. His holding of the title made him the 1st Heavyweight Champion to be embraced by television viewers. The fact that he was white and ethnic, not black like Louis or later Champions like Floyd Patterson, Sonny Liston and Muhammad Ali, shouldn't have helped, but did.

He retired in 1956, at 49-0, with 43 knockouts. Among his victims were former Heavyweight Champions Louis, Walcott and Ezzard Charles, and reigning Light Heavyweight Champion Archie Moore, whom he beat in what turned out to be his last fight. He is the only Heavyweight Champion who retired undefeated, and stayed retired. He became an announcer for fights, and even hosted a talk show where he would interview a celebrity and then show a famous fight, sometimes one of his own.

As with Buddy Holly 10 years earlier, the pilot was inexperienced flying at night and in bad weather, and crashed in rural Iowa.

*

August 31, 1969 was a Sunday. These Major League Baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees beat the expansion Kansas City Royals, 5-3 at Yankee Stadium. Fritz Peterson was the winning pitcher. Roy White went 1-for-3 with 2 RBIs. Thurman Munson had made his major league debut that month, but on this day, the catcher was Frank Fernández, who had an unusual day: no official at-bats, 4 walks, and a run scored.

* The New York Mets split a doubleheader with the San Francisco Giants at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. The Mets won the opener, 8-0. Tom Seaver pitched a shutout, allowing 7 hits and 3 walks, striking out 11. The Mets got good production from the bottom of their order: Ron Swoboda, Jerry Grote and Al Weis each had 2 RBIs, while Seaver himself had 1 on a single.

The Giants won the nightcap, 3-2. Ron Taylor walked Jim Davenport with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 11th inning, messing up a good start by Jim McAndrew. Swoboda hit a home run. Willie Mays did not play in either game.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the California Angels, 5-4 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Frank Robinson went 2-for-3 with a walk and an RBI. Brooks Robinson went 1-for-4 with an RBI.

* The Washington Senators beat the Oakland Athletics, 8-3 at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in Washington. The Senators got home runs from Frank Howard, Mike Epstein, Ken McMullen and Bernie Allen, as Casey Cox outpitched Jim "Catfish" Hunter. Reggie Jackson went 2-for-3 with a walk and an RBI.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Atlanta Braves, 8-4 at Atlanta Stadium (later Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium). Ken Holtzman not only outpitched Phil Niekro, but hit a home run for the Cubs. So did Billy Williams. Ernie Banks went 0-for-4. Hank Aaron went 1-for-4.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 7-5 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. Johnny Bench and Tony Pérez hit home runs, and Pete Rose went 3-for-4 with an RBI.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the expansion Seattle Pilots, 7-2 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Al Kaline did not play in this game, but Willie Horton hit 2 home runs, and Don Wert hit one. Earl Wilson outpitched Gene Brabender. Maybe the Pilots could have used Jim Bouton. Alas, they had traded him to Houston a few days earlier, as told in Bouton's book Ball Four.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Cleveland Indians, 7-6 at Comiskey Park in Chicago.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Boston Red Sox, 6-2 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Harmon Killebrew and Ted Uhlaender hit home runs. Carl Yastrzemski went 1-for-4.

Killebrew won the American League home run race with 49. Howard hit 48. After getting to 31 by the All-Star Break, Reggie Jackson ended up with 47.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Houston Astros, 6-4 at the Astrodome in Houston. Roberto Clemente went 0-for-2 with 3 walks. Willie Stargell went 1-for-5 with 2 RBIs. The Astros used 4 pitchers. Jim Bouton was not one of them. This game did not make a fellow proud to be an Astro.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-1 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

* And the National League's 2 expansion teams played a doubleheader at San Diego Stadium (later renamed Jack Murphy Stadium and Qualcomm Stadium). The San Diego Padres won the 1st game, 5-2. The Montreal Expos won the 2nd game, 6-1. In contrast to the AL, where the Royals only lost 93 games and the Pilots 98, the Expos and Padres both lost 110, bad even by the standards of 1st-year teams.

August 31, 1955: Nashua vs. Swaps

August 31, 1955: A rare match race between horse racing champions is held at Washington Park in Chicago.

Swaps, a horse known as the California Comet, won the 1955 Kentucky Derby in 2 minutes, 1 and 4/5ths seconds, just 2/5ths shy of the race record, since broken by Secretariat in 1973. He was ridden by Willie Shoemaker, who retired as the jockey with the most races won in a career. But an injured hoof prevented Swaps from running in the last 2 legs of the Triple Crown, the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes.

Nashua was bred and trained in Maryland, and ridden by the other great jockey of the 1950s, Eddie Arcaro. The leading 2-year-old racer the year before, Nashua was the favorite to win the Kentucky Derby, but finished 2nd to Swaps. Nashua won the Preakness Stakes, by only 1 length, but in a track record, also broken by Secretariat 18 years later. Nashua won the Belmont Stakes by 9 lengths, and certainly looked like the best thoroughbred horse in the country.

But some racing observers still thought Swaps was the better horse. He recovered from his injury to set several track records on the West Coast. So a deal was reached for a match race. The prize money: $110,000, winner-take-all. (About $1.21 million in 2022 money.)

The day before the race, Swaps was in a practice run on the track, which was wet, and he re-injured his foot. As a result, Nashua, having broken fast from the gate, led wire to wire. Having won the match race, Nashua was awarded the Eclipse Award for horse of the year.

Swaps was rested for the remainder of the year -- which is probably what should have happened before the match race. It should have been called off as soon as his handlers knew he was hurt. But the money was too good. I guess we'll never know for sure.

The rest he did get did him a lot of good. He won several races in 1956, and was named Horse of the Year. But an even worse injury near the end of the racing season nearly led to his death, and forced his retirement. He sired Chateaugay, who won the Kentucky Derby and the Belmont Stakes in 1963. He died in 1972.

Nashua also retired after the 1956 racing season, having become only the 2nd horse ever to earn $1 million. (The 1st was 1948 Triple Crown winner Citation.) At stud, his daughters were more successful than his sons. His descendants include 1997 Kentucky Derby winner Fusaichi Pegasus. He died in 1982.

Both horses were named to the United States Racing Hall of Fame. In 1999, The Blood-Horse magazine named its Top 100 Racehorses of the 20th Century, and ranked Swaps 20th and Nashua 24th -- in spite of Nashua's win in their match race.

*

August 31, 1955 was a Wednesday. Olympic Gold Medalist hurdler Edwin Moses was born on this day.

These baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Kansas City Athletics, 11-6 at Kansas City Municipal Stadium. Mickey Mantle, Gil McDougald and Irv Noren hit home runs in support of Tommy Byrne.

* The New York Giants beat the Cincinnati Redlegs, 5-0 at the Polo Grounds. (The Reds were known as the Redlegs from 1954 to 1958, because of stupid McCarthyism.) Ruben Gomez pitched a 7-hit shutout. Willie Mays went 1-for-4.

* The Brooklyn Dodgers lost to the Milwaukee Braves, 13-8 at Ebbets Field. The Braves knocked Carl Erskine out of the box in the 5th inning, including a single by Hank Aaron and a home run by George Crowe. A 19-year-old rookie from Brooklyn named Sandy Koufax pitched the 6th inning, and allowed 4 runs.

Jackie Robinson did not appear in this game. Don Newcombe did, but as a pinch-hitter, not a pitcher. He ended that season with 20 wins against 5 losses, 7 home runs, and a World Series ring. (Take note, Shohei Ohtani.) But, on this occasion, he struck out. Sandy Amoros hit a home run, and Pee Wee Reese and Duke Snider each had 3 hits, but Dem Bums still lost.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 13-2 at Connie Mack Stadium, in Philadelphia. The Phils got home runs from Stan Lopata and Jim Greengrass; and 3 RBIs each from Greengrass, Granny Hamner and Willie "Puddin' Head" Jones, in support of Murry Dickson. Richie Ashburn went 2-for-3 with 2 walks. Ernie Banks went 0-for-4.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 4-3 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Stan Musial was in the starting lineup, batting 5th and playing right field, but did not get into the game: Pete Whisenant was sent to pinch-hit for him in the 1st inning, and played right field the rest of the way. I can find no explanation, as Baseball-Reference.com shows that Musial played in every single game that season. (I guess being listed in the starting lineup counts with them, even if the player was replaced before coming to bat or taking the field.)

Pirate rookie Roberto Clemente did not enter this game, either. Johnny O'Brien, along with his brother Eddie 1 of 10 sets of twins to have played in the major leagues, did play, and he singled home the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning.

(In 2022, there is 1 set of twins in the major leagues, identical, and both pitchers: Taylor Rogers of the Milwaukee Brewers, and Tyler Rogers of the San Francisco Giants. Oddly, Taylor throws lefthanded, and Tyler is righthanded.)

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Baltimore Orioles, 5-1 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Herb Score, soon to be named the American League Rookie of the Year, went the distance, striking out 13 -- but also walking 7, and allowing 3 hits. Brooks Robinson would make his major league debut for the Orioles on September 17.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Washington Senators, 7-4 at Briggs Stadium in Detroit. (It was renamed Tiger Stadium in 1961.) Al Kaline, on his way to becoming the youngest batting champion in AL history (breaking the record of an earlier Tiger, Ty Cobb), went 0-for-3, but had an RBI on a sacrifice fly.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Boston Red Sox, 4-2 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Ted Williams went 0-for-4.

August 31, 1946: The Football League Returns After World War II

Jack Balmer

August 31, 1946: After almost exactly 7 years, England’s Football League resumes play. As it had proven to be in 1919, when it resumed after World War I, the British public's appetite for what we would call soccer was ravenous, and the largest crowd on this day was 61,000 at Stamford Bridge in West London, where host Chelsea beat Lancashire club Bolton Wanderers 4–3.

As for the leading club before The War, North London's Arsenal? The Gunners' postwar debut was a disaster, as a visit to Birmingham-area club Wolverhampton Wanderers (a.k.a. Wolves) resulted in a 6-1 defeat in front of 50,845. Clearly, the prewar players were now too old, and new players had to be brought in. Arsenal would finish 13th in the 22-team League.

The title race would be very close., as 4 teams would finish within 2 points: Liverpool beat out Manchester United by 1 point, and Wolves and Stoke by 2. Jack Balmer and Albert Stubbins each scored 28 goals for Liverpool -- in each case, 24 in League play.

After the season, George Allison retired as manager of Arsenal, and former player and physiotherapist Tom Whittaker took over. He having rebuilt the team, he led them to the title in 1948. But Wolves, along with Hampshire team Portsmouth FC and North-East team Newcastle United, would soon take over English football: Portsmouth won the League title in 1949 and 1950; Newcastle won the Cup in 1951, 1952 and 1954; while Wolves won the FA Cup in 1949, and the League title in 1954, 1958 and 1959, before winning the Cup again in 1960.

*

August 31, 1946 was a Saturday. In America, these baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Washington Senators, 4-0 at Griffith Stadium in Washington. Bill Bevens pitched a 7-hit shutout. Joe DiMaggio went 2-for-4 with 2 RBIs.

* The New York Giants beat their arch-rivals, the Brooklyn Dodgers, 2-1 at the Polo Grounds. Monte Kennedy outpitched Kirby Higbe.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Philadelphia Athletics, 4-2 at Fenway Park in Boston. Ted Williams went 0-for-4.

* A doubleheader was split at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Phillies won the opener, 10-6. Dick Mauney went the distance to win, while Warren Spahn didn't get out of the 4th inning. The Boston Braves won the nightcap, 14-2.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 6-1 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Rookie Ralph Kiner went 1-for-3 with a walk. Stan Musial went 1-for-3 with a walk.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Chicago Cubs, 6-3 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Chicago White Sox, 3-2 at Comiskey Park in Chicago.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the St. Louis Browns, 11-3 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. Hank Greenberg went 1-for-5. Skeeter Webb went 4-for-6 with 3 RBIs. Dick Wakefield went 3-for-5 with a walk and 3 RBIs. And Paul Richards went 1-for-3 and Eddie Lake went 0-for-3, with each of them drawing 3 walks.

August 31, 1934: The 1st Chicago College All-Star Game

August 31, 1934: The 1st Chicago Tribune Charities College All-Star Game is played at Soldier Field.

Like the Major League Baseball All-Star Game, first played the year before at Chicago's Comiskey Park, it was the idea of Chicago Tribune sports editor Arch Ward, in connection with the 1933-34 "Century of Progress" World's Fair. Unlike the All-Star Game, it was set for Chicago every year. In 1943 and 1944, it was held at Dyche Stadium (now Ryan Field), in nearby Evanston, Illinois, home field of Northwestern University. Other than those 2, it was always played at Soldier Field.

The format of "the Chicago College All-Star Game" was always the same: An all-star team of recently graduated college players would play the defending NFL Champions. In this case, the Chicago Bears, featuring Harold "Red" Grange, the template for all speedy halfbacks who followed him; and Bronislau "Bronko" Nagurski, the role model for all big, bruising fullbacks after him. Nevertheless, a crowd of 79,432 saw the All-Stars hold the defending Champions to a 0-0 draw.

The NFL Champions won 30 games, the College All-Stars 9, with 2 ties. The defending NFL Champions who fell to the College All-Stars: The 1937 and 1963 Green Bay Packers, the 1938 and 1943 Washington Redskins, the 1946 Los Angeles Rams, the 1947 Chicago Bears, the 1950 Philadelphia Eagles, the 1955 Cleveland Browns, and the 1958 Detroit Lions.

In 1974, a players' strike in the preseason canceled the game. In 1976, with the Pittsburgh Steelers leading 24-0 late in the 3rd quarter, a lightning storm halted play, and the game was never resumed. And by "never," I mean never: The Tribune announced it would no longer sponsor the game.

And no one seems to miss it. Certainly, the team owners were glad to no longer risk the players on whom they were spending increasing sums of money.

*

August 31, 1934 was a Friday. Only 4 major league baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Washington Senators, 3-1 at Yankee Stadium. Red Ruffing outpitched Jack Russell, for whom the Phillies' 1955-2003 Spring Training stadium would be named. Babe Ruth went 1-for-2 with 2 walks. Lou Gehrig went 0-for-3 with a walk.

* The New York Giants beat their arch-rivals, the Brooklyn Dodgers, 2-1 at Ebbets Field. Fat Freddie Fitzsimmons outpitched Van Lingle Mungo. Mel Ott went 0-for-3 with a walk. Bill Terry, by now also the Giants' manager, went 1-for-4.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat their arch-rivals, the Chicago Cubs, 3-1 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Dizzy Dean outpitched Guy Bush. Gabby Hartnett hit a home run, but it was the only run that Ol' Diz gave up.

* And the St. Louis Browns beat the Chicago White Sox, 3-2 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. Ray Pepper brought home the winning run with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 11th inning.

August 31, 1928: "The Threepenny Opera" Premieres

Lotte Lenya (left) and Harald Paulsen

August 31, 1928: The Threepenny Opera (Die Dreigroschenoper), adapted by Bertolt Brecht, Elisabeth Hauptmann and composer Kurt Weill (with set designer Caspar Neher) from The Beggar's Opera, receives its première in Berlin at the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm with Harald Paulsen and Lotte Lenya (Weill's wife) in the principal rôles.

A draft narration by Brecht for a concert performance begins: "You are about to hear an opera for beggars. Since this opera was intended to be as splendid as only beggars can imagine, and yet cheap enough for beggars to be able to watch, it is called the Threepenny Opera."

Brecht was quoted as saying, "Food comes first, then morals." This may have inspired Adlai Stevenson to say, "A hungry man is not a free man"; and John F. Kennedy to say, "If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich."

Set in Victorian London, the play focuses on Macheath, an amoral antihero who leads a criminal gang, committing robbery, arson, rape and murder. Macheath -- known in the German version as "Mackie Messer," meaning "Mack the Knife" -- marries Polly Peachum. This displeases her father, another crime boss, who controls the beggars of London, and he endeavours to have Macheath hanged.

His attempts are hindered by the fact that the Chief of Police, Tiger Brown, is Macheath's old army comrade. Still, Peachum exerts his influence, and eventually gets Macheath arrested and sentenced to hang. Macheath escapes this fate moments before the execution when, in an unrestrained parody of a happy ending, a messenger from Queen Victoria arrives to pardon Macheath, and grant him the title of baron.

It was Marc Blitzstein's 1954 translation into English that produced the familiar translation of the show's best-known number, including putting Lenya herself in the lyrics: Die Moritat von Mackie Messer became "The Ballad of Mack the Knife." It would be recorded by many singers, with Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald having hit versions in 1956, before Bobby Darin hit Number 1 with it in 1959.

The Threepenny Opera was first staged in English, anywhere in the world, in 1933, on Broadway. Despite a 1935 BBC radio broadcast, which Weill himself called "the worst performance imaginable," it was not staged in London until 1956.

It has been filmed in German and French, with the same actors, in 1931. Another German version was made in 1963, with 2 James Bond villains -- and Lenya, who played Rosa Klebb in From Russia with Love that year, was not one of them. Curd Jürgens played Macheath, and Gert Fröbe played Peachum -- with Sammy Davis Jr. as the Moritat singer, in German. And in 1989, under the title Mack the Knife, Raúl Juliá played Macheath, Richard Harris played Peachum, and Roger Daltry sang the song.

Weill died in 1950, Paulsen in 1954, Brecht in 1956, and Lenya in 1981.

*

August 31, 1928 was a Friday. Actor James Coburn was born on this day. And these baseball games were played:

* The Brooklyn Robins -- as the Dodgers were known under the management of Wilbert Robinson from 1914 to 1931 -- beat their arch-rivals, the New York Giants, 4-2 at the Polo Grounds. Dazzy Vance outpitched a rookie Carl Hubbell. Jake Flowers hit a home run for the Robins. For the Giants, Bill Terry went 1-for-4. Mel Ott went 0-for-4.

* A doubleheader was split at Braves Field in Boston. The Philadelphia Phillies won the opener, 4-3. The Boston Braves won the nightcap, 4-1.

* A doubleheader was split at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. The Pittsburgh Pirates won the 1st game, 6-5. Ray Kremer outpitched Grover Cleveland Alexander. The St. Louis Cardinals won the 2nd game, 6-2. Over the 2 games, Frankie Frisch went 4-for-8 with a walk and an RBI, Jim Bottomley went 3-for-8 with a home run and 3 RBIs, Chick Hafey went 3-for-8 with a home run and an RBI, Paul Waner went 2-for-7 with a home run and 3 RBIs, and Lloyd Waner went 1-for-8.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Cincinnati Reds, 5-3 at Redland Field (later renamed Crosley Field) in Cincinnati.

* The Philadelphia Athletics beat the Boston Red Sox, 3-2 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. Ty Cobb and Tris Speaker, both about to retire, were on the A's roster, but neither played in the game.

* The St. Louis Browns beat the Detroit Tigers, 5-2 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis.

* The New York Yankees and the Washington Senators were rained out at Griffith Stadium in Washington. The game was never made up.

* And the Chicago White Sox and the Cleveland Indians were rained out at Comiskey Park in Chicago. This game was never made up, either.